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The island of the Tainos
Puerto Rico is an island nation that has been dominated by powerful foreign countries like Spaiun and the U.S. It was not just taken over without a fight. Natives of Puerto Rico have a past of resistance. Puerto Rico has a rich history that includes its culture and religion, resistance to Spanish colonization and a strong movement towards independence. Power was shown in its Taino culture, Its people have always had to deal with outsiders coming in to change life and profit from it. Its geography is really beautiful as many people visit throughout the year. Puerto Rico is an island full of sandy beaches and brightly colored flowers, Mountains and rain forests. The winter temperures range is from 73 to 80 degrees in January and during the summer it's around 84 the lowest temperature was 40 that was on March 11,1911. The highest was 103 degrees on August/22/1906. ( Worlds Books pg880 ) The Tainos had a very organized and rich culture and powerful religion. They had powerful leaders that protected their culture. They called their leaders "cacique” and each town had "cacique" and their jobs were to judge and settled disputes and keep the peace between the people. ( People Publishing pg6 ) Religion was another way they showed their strenght. They worshiped and thanked the gods for nature and their good crops. The Tainos believed in many gods but their highest-ranking gods yocaju-bagua-morocoti. They believed he was the maker of all things then the second ranking atabey-yermano-guacar. ( People Publishing pg7 ) The Taino showed their power physically when they tried to fight back the invasion of the Spaniards in (year). They were tired of the way they been treated by the Spaniards so the Taino revolted with violence. Within two years the Tainos revolted against the cruel treatment they received. In 1510, cacique agueybana and cacique urayoan declared war on the invading Spaniards. It came from a plan of cacique urayoan as the story goes he wanted to see if the Spaniards were mortal. One afternoon Diego Salcedo,a Spanish conquistador, was in a cacique named Urayoan's village. Urayoan suggested that several men carry Salcedo and his equipment across the river they held his head underwater for several hours. Salcedo was pronounced dead. The Tainos under the leadership of the caciques such as aymamonit continued to fight. In 1513 there was another large revolt by the native people. Many more Tainos were killed. By 1514 only 3,000 Taino were still living on Boriquen (the original name of the island).The reason the Spaniards won is because of their weapons was more powerful than the Tainos. Spaniards who settled on the island had control during colonial life. They changed everything into spanish culture and daily life. People spoke spanish and practiced the Catholic religion. But, they got tired of the Spanish kings telling them what to do. After years of tyranny Puerto Rico finally had gotten their independence. Many Puerto Ricans wanted to change conditions under which they lived during these years. In 1812 a new but short-lived Spanish constitution gave full citizenship rights to Puerto Ricans who were not enslaved. This constitution lasted two years. ( People Publishing pg52) Spain continued to treat the that Puerto Ricans were not in control of their own lives. Some Puerto Ricans continued to talk about independence. Leaders like José de Diego and Pedro Albizu Campos formed an independence movement. In 1922 the nationalist party was formed. It spoke in favor of complete independence from the United States. In 1930, Pedro Albizu Campos was elected president of this party that gained support from the poorest people in Puerto Rico. But,some were against the nationalist party. category:Puerto Rico